For those who love breaststroke and want to get better, this article is for you! It is essential to incorporate drills into your training, to continually work on your technique and movements. Even the most experienced swimmers do drills during their training.
Here are a few breaststroke drills to improve your technique, breathing and arm-leg coordination.
Breaststroke with freestyle kick
Goal: Work on breaststroke technique and breathing while maintaining a hydrodynamic position.
Execution: Swim with breaststroke pull and freestyle kick movements. Focus on precise arm movements, with your hand going under your chin and extended forward. This drill helps to isolate pull movement and work on body position.
Breaststroke with a pause
Goal: Improve the propulsion phase and coordination between arms and legs.
Execution: After each arm stroke, pause with your arms stretched out in front of you before starting the kick movement. During this pause, try to feel the glide and body position. This allows you to synchronize your arms and legs, emphasizing the propulsion phase.
Breaststroke with head above water
Goal: Improve coordination between arms and legs, and breathing in breaststroke.
Execution: Swim breaststroke, keeping your head above water for the duration of the exercise. Concentrate on moving your arms and legs while keeping your head up. This exercise works on breaststroke breathing and improves your overall technique by forcing better synchronization between arms, legs and breathing. Make sure you keep a good body position and don’t lean forward to avoid bad posture.